Recently, the copyright industry has been using international means to pressure Canada into copyright reform. Since the accusations by the copyright industry are that Canada’s copyright laws are the weakest, it is interesting that the latest news is that 5 people now face imprisonment and fines of up to $1 million for pirating and selling DVDs of the latest movies.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
The news comes from the Toronto Star where 5 people are being charged for violations of Canada’s copyright act. This is the same copyright act that seems to have been a magnet for scorn from the copyright industry because of, among other things, lack of copyright enforcement even though enforcement is clearly demonstrated here.
All this was happening during a time when the IFPI insisted that in order for free trade talks with Europe to begin, Canada needed to reform their copyright laws. Not only was this happening, but also just days earlier was Canada put on a Special 301 report priority watch list to join the ranks of countries like China which are known to have bootleg vendors everywhere. The move to put Canada on the priority watch list is already seen as a move that could ultimately backfire.
This more recent development could easily put another nail in the coffin on the claims that Canada has extremely bad copyright laws that need “updating” as the copyright industry sees fit.
[Hat tip Michael Geist]
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
